"I thought this was as good of a game as we've played since I've been here," said UML coach Pat Duquette. "It's tough to get road wins, but to be in control from start to finish is even harder. We handled our lead really well this time. We were disciplined and we kept playing the right way."

The teams alternated baskets and were tied on three occasions in the opening minutes until Gantz sparked an 18-4 run that included a trio of threes and was capped off by an and-1 from Thomas to put the River Hawks ahead, 12-10 with 12:50 remaining in the first half.

The Black Bears worked back to within eight, but layups from Thomas and freshman Obadiah Noel and a rare, four-point play from Harris gave the visitors a 32-16 lead at 9:43.

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Maine cut the difference to single-digits three more times in the period, two of which came inside the final four minutes, although the River Hawks would tally six of the last seven points to take a 49-35 edge into the break.

Gantz grabbed an offensive rebound and notched his squad's first bucket coming out of halftime. The River Hawks maintained at least a 10-point margin before scoring 13 in a row to open up their advantage to 65-42 with 14:41 left to go.

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